Aligning tool



Sept. 18-, .1951

F. c. GEHRKEQ ALIGNING TOOL Filed April 25, 1947 INVENTOR. FVED 6. 66/1/4046 Patented Sept. 18, 1951 OFFICE 2,568,390 ALIGNING TOOL Fred C. Gehrke, Amityville, N. Y.

Application April 23, 1947, Serial No. 743,445

1 Claim. i This invention relates to what may be called a temporary aligning tool, and especially to a simple clip structure by means of which two or more articles provided with holes may be aligned and held together in desired position for the purpose of either permanently or removably uniting them.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a very simple, inexpensive but nevertheless highly effective aligning tool which will hold a plurality of perforated articles in substantially an exact alignment with one another by way of their perforations, and which tool is adapted to provide either a four-point, or any other positive and sufficiently forceful contact with the peripheries of the holes of the articles to be aligned, whereby these articles are securely held in prepared position for joining them.

Another more specific object of this invention is to provide a device for the above outlined purposes, and which device is adapted for easy handling, without auxiliary tools, in both placing it into operative position to hold together the holding some of the parts together while aligning them with another part, and for engaging the last part to be aligned in such a manner that the parts first aligned are temporarily held together and are aligned with the last part, preparatory to permanently uniting all parts, such as would be the case with an oil pan and a gasket, wherein the perforated gasket and the perforated rim of the pan are to be held together preparatory to attaching the pan to the engine crank-case, and wherein the device is so designed as to engage, for instance, the thread of the apertures in the engine crank-case and temporarily hold the pan and the gasket in adjacent articles to be united, and in removing it from and disengaging the united articles, and being designed to provide ample room to facilitate the operation of permanently connecting the articles while being held by the device, in that the latters width dimensions is kept at a minimum, such tool being particularly adapted to facilitate holding in alignment parts intended to be permanently joined by means of spot welding, welding, soldering, riveting or bolting.

A further object of the present invention is to so construct the device that when it is placed into operative position, its parts engaging the apertures of the articles to be united are kept under tension in two directions, that is at opposite sides of the apertures, whereby not only a positive and forceful engagement is assured between the device and the orifices of the articles engaged thereby, but whereby the shifting of the articles is prevented during the operation of permanently attaching them to one another.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, resilient clip structure designed both for aligning several perforated parts with one another, and for holding, for instance, two parts together while aligning the holes of these two parts with the hole of a third part, such as is the case in attaching an oil pan to the engine crank-case body.

Another object of this invention is to provide clip structures adapted for both aligning several perforated parts with one another and also for position thereto until the pan is attached by means of bolts.

The foregoing and numerous other important objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the ensuing description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the present device, partly in section, and seen in a position of holding together and positively engaging three perforated elements to be aligned;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the device in its normal, expanded position; and

Fig. 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings numeral I 0 indicates the presently preferred embodiment of the device which constitutes a continuous member formed from an elongated strip of originally fiat, resilient material which is bent to form a substantially circular loop l0 forming a hand hold and adapted for the reception of a finger, and from which loop extends a pair of prongs I l and I2 forming an integral part of the loop, and wherein the bodies of these prongs are crowned or bowed outwardly in transverse cross section, as indicated at 13 in Fig. 3, and wherein these prongs are provided with outwardly struck burrs l4 extending from their bowed bodies, and which burrs have free outer ends directed towards the loop, and wherein the prong portions l5 and I5 beyond the burrs are bent towards each other so that when they are compressed against one another they make contact at their ends and form a pilot structure which is adapted to facilitate the insertion of the prongs into an aperture, said loop Ill being sufficiently resilient to normally urge the prongs against the wall of an aperture in opposite directions so that the burrs may forcibly engage the wall to prevent accidental displacement of the prongs from the aperture.

In Fig. 1 there is illustrated a crank case IS,

:in which is provided a threaded aperture [7.

Beneath the lower face of the crank case there is illustrated a gasket l8 and below the gasket is indicated at l9 the edge of an oil pan which .is intended to be bolted to crank case I6.

In order to unite two or more articles provided with perforations, as shown in Fig. 1, it is necessary to hold these articles with their perforations in alignment, and the present device is designed to facilitate alignment of such articles.

In order to effect such alignment, prongs II and [2 of the device are compressed so that the ends of the prongs engage one another, whereupon the device is slipped through the apertures to be aligned. When thus inserted, the prongs are released and the resiliency of loop I forces the prong ends against the wall of the innermost aperture.

In the case shown in Fig. 1, the innermost aperture is the threaded hole II, the thread of which is engaged by burrs M, and the lower portion of the prongs effect the alignment of the apertures in the gasket l8 and oil pan flange I9 with threaded aperture I1, and both the gasket and the oil pan flange are thus held against the lower face of crank case l6.

Several clip devices of the present invention are inserted into a number of threaded apertures, such as shown in Fig. 1, whereby both the gasket and the oil pan are held in aligned position and suspended from the crank case while several bolts are inserted in some other apertures to engage the threads in the crank case preparatory to completing the connection of the oil pan. Now the clips are removed one by one andbolts are substituted for them until the attachment of the pan is finished.

From the foregoing it will be clearly evident that the present device is extremely useful in aligning'apertures of several articles to be united,

and facilitates the suspension of such articles preparatory to effecting their final permanent or removable 'union.

While only one specific form of the device .is illustrated and is intended for a specific application, its design and construction is subject to changes when the device is to serve for similar or different purposes, and such changes are believed to reside within the scope of this invention.

What is claimed as new is:

A device of the character described comprising a continuous member formed from an elongated strip of substantially fiat resilient material bent to form a substantially circular loop constituting a hand hold and also a finger receiving loop, said loop having a pair of prongs extending outwardly from it and integral therewith, said prongs being outwardly bowed in transverse cross section and being normally spaced apart due to the resiliency of the loop and being normally spaced and free from each other but being compressible towards each other against the spring force of the loop, said prongs being-bent outwardly diagonally from the loop, substantially half their length and at outer ends of the outwardly bent portions having burrs struck from them, the said burrs having free outer ends presented towards said loop, and the end portions 'beyond the 'burrs being bent diagonally towards each other and constituting cams for forcing the prongs towards each other when the prongs are thrust into an aperture and thereby causing the prongs to grip walls of the aperture and prevent accidental displacement of the prongs from .the aperture.

FRED C. GEHRKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,368,646 Morrow Feb. 15, 1921 1,435,887 Anderson Nov. 14, 1922 1,949,027 Pancoe Feb. 27, 1934 2,077,355 Chaffee Apr. 13, 1937 2,104,239 Place Jan. 4, 1938 2,208,878 Wiley July 23, 1940 2,229,996 Churchill Jan. 28, 1941 2,503,219 Schaper Apr. 4, 1950 

